Round 14: Magny Cours – France

France

October 7, 2012

Rea on Race Two Podium and Fifth Overall for Honda

The FIM Superbike World Championship has now delivered Jonathan Rea (Honda World Superbike Team) 29 career podiums in 98 individual career races after he finished second in race two today, making up for the disappointment of crashing out of race one while leading, and then limping home to finish 13th.

Jonathan Rea

Jonathan Rea

Rea completed his latest SBK season in overall fifth place, with two race wins to his credit. He was only nine points from a top four finish in the points table.

The 25-year-old rider from Northern Ireland, who has combined MotoGP duties with his full-time SBK commitments, recently was going through his fifth consecutive race weekend at the SBK season finale. He fell in the first 23-lap race at the 4.411Km Magny-Cours circuit in wet and very slippery conditions that saw many top riders fall or run wide. He was lapping two seconds faster than his closest rivals for some time, but fell on lap 13 when his rear snapped out while he was almost upright. He was lucky to walk away with just bashes and bruises and was all ready to start race two.

He was glad he did when he ran eventual race two winner Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) a close second. Sylvain Guintoli had won race one, in wet conditions on his privateer Ducati. In the championship Max Biaggi (Aprilia) won his second SBK title by finishing fifth in race two, winning the crown by an impossibly small margin of 0.5 points over Sykes. This was the closest ever finish in SBK’s 25 year history.

Hiroshi Aoyama (Honda World Superbike Team) qualified 18th at Magny-Cours and completed his rookie season in the same 18th place overall. He was a retiree in the first wet race today, but 14th and in the points in race two, in largely dry conditions.

Cluzel’s Win Gives Honda The Manufacturers’ Title

Jules Cluzel (PTR Honda) made the break at the front of the field in the FIM Supersport World Championship race at Magny-Cours that proved eventually decisive, finally winning his home race by1.591 seconds from a chasing Sam Lowes (Bogdanka PTR Honda). Cluzel finishes the season second overall and Lowes is back up to third.

The combined efforts of many Honda riders gave the Manufacturers’ Title to Honda, for the ninth time.

After two dry days of practice a wet warm-up was the only chance the WSS riders had to put good settings in their machines. Some succeeded and some did not, with fortunes changing for many riders on the final raceday of the 13-round 2012 season.

New champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) was third over the line in today’s race, but was finally penalised back the fourth after colliding with eventual podium finisher Dan Linfoot (Kawasaki) and knocking him off.

Held in damp yet slowly drying conditions the 22-lap race was a tricky one for all and particularly for Broc Parkes (Ten Kate Racing Products Honda) who raced with a rear tyre that had too much pressure in it. Despite starting from pole he dropped back to pit and then get going again and finished 27th. Parkes is fifth in the final points table.

South African riders Ronan Quarmby (PTR Honda) and Mathew Scholtz (Bogdanka PTR Honda) had very different fortunes today, with Sholtz having his personal best race of the year in seventh after qualifying 16th, but Quarmby was fighting rear grip issues to go 26th. In the championship Quarmby finished eighth, Scholtz a much-improved 16th.

Roberto Tamburini (Team Lorini Honda) was 25th in the tricky conditions,p but overall he was 12th in the final rankings, the fifth Honda overall. Gabor Talmacsi (PRORACE Honda) returned to form and was ninth, placing him 13th overall despite only competing in a few races this year. He had been an impressive sixth in qualifying.

Imre Toth (Racing Team Toth Honda) was one place behind his team-mate Balazs Nemeth (Racing Team Toth Honda) in France, with Nemeth 12th and Toth 13th. They were the last Honda riders in the points today.

Martin Jessopp (Riders PTR Honda) finished his season 18th in the order in France and 40th overall in points. Danilo Marrancone (Kuja Racing Honda) had a DNF at Magny-Cours.

“I needed some wings in race one because I really got caught out by the conditions and had a highside. My team gave me a really good bike to ride this weekend in the dry and in the wet, so I felt like such an amateur when I ended up in the gravel, because even when I picked the bike up I was still in the lead. So I felt for the guys in the team. In race two I did my best and was not so aggressive in the beginning, but later on I was able to bridge the gap back to the front. To be honest Tom Sykes never made any mistakes and did a superb job in race two. I am really happy to be part of this championship this year because it has been up and down for everybody, not just me, and it has excited me that so many different riders could win races.”

“My last race was also a tough one in the championship season. It was not such an easy racetrack here as well, and we also had some issues with the shaking of the bike and grip problems. It was a nice experience for me to race in Superbike in 2012 and it was a new challenge for me. It did not work very well sometimes and I suffered sometimes, but I have to thanks to the team because they worked very hard to solve the problems. Also big thanks to the sponsors and everyone around the team.”

“I am really happy. I have won at home. I had nothing to prove today as the Championship was already finished so I just tried to enjoy myself. This morning my feeling with the bike was bad, but my PTR team did a great job with my bike so I was able to lead and control the race. It was great with my family and friends here. Thanks to my PTR team, it has been a great year for me. I finished the season strong. I need to learn more about the first five races for next year.”

“The conditions were not perfect, but I knew we had a good chance this weekend because I was quietly working for the race. We've been a little bit unlucky with the weather today as I had a really good pace in the dry, but the team did an awesome job and again gave me a great bike for the wet today. I'm very happy to get second in the race and third in the championship. Thanks to the team, as the whole squad worked fantastic all year long. We didn't quite do the job we wanted to do this year, but we've managed to get third in the championship and I'm happy with that."

“I got a good start and I had felt very confident in the warm-up in the rain. Kenan Sofuoglu passed me early on and in the early laps in the first corners it just kept losing the rear and spinning up. I thought I may be just because it was the first lap, but it was so bad I could not ride it, then I started to go back, back and back. I pulled in and I think there was the wrong pressure in the rear tyre. Then I went back out again to finish the race.”

“I was really going for it in the race; I felt good. Then I had a big moment going into a corner and ran off the track. I got back on track, but lost confidence - the conditions were very difficult with the track wet and dry and I felt I had little grip. I am pleased to finish eighth in the World Championship, my best ever result.”

“My start wasn't very good and I didn't have a lot of feeling. I was sliding a lot and dropped down to around 19th. After a few laps I got the feeling back and started to make my way up. I got up to eighth and Talmacsi was quite far in front, but I managed to catch and pass him to get my best result of the season. I'm very happy with how we've ended the year. The first half of the season wasn't very good for me but I got to finish better in the second half, with a few top ten results and now seventh today.”

“I was expecting a little bit better, but the tyre dropped down so quickly and our set-up was not the best for the wet in general. But, anyway, eight times I have started races and eight times we have taken points, which is good, and I hope that next year we can expect more.”

“I went backwards on the first four laps when it was still wet and I had no confidence. As the track dried I came back quite strong and made up a lot of places and set good lap times. I learned a lot this year and enjoyed riding in WSS, it is a great class and I've enjoyed being part of this paddock.”

"The conditions were really tricky today. I dropped towards the back of the pack at the start but got the feeling and started making my way up. In the end, I've finished in 22nd which wasn't what I was hoping for, but considering how tricky the conditions were today, it's good to be at the finish and it's an OK result."